We have reached the next stage in undergarment evolution.
For the first year of Robert's life, we used (and re-used) cloth diapers, partly for the environmental aspect, but mostly because my wife did piles of research and found lots of niche retailers who sell very effective little snappy things that saved us a bloody fortune. Next came disposables, which came into use about when Robert's effluent became just too nasty to store in the house for any length of time. Then, when the boy learned that life is a lot more fun when you can float little TP barges in the toilet and sink them with your stream, out came the little Gerber pants with the extra absorptive crotch panels.
Robert is now a proud flaunter of Novelty Big-Boy Underpants, which have two very important qualities. First, they can feature your favorite TV personality on the front, and everyone knows life is just that more secure when you know Bob the Builder is standing guard over your privates. But more importantly, these are Y-fronts, with a real "Y" that affords the wearer easy access without the indignity of walking around with your knickers around your ankles.
Robert discovered this the other day, during one of those rare times when he doesn't make me wait my turn, and he was incredulous. "Hey! These have a hole in them!" I explained that it was there on purpose (complete with a short demonstration of how a fly works), and he shot me a look that said, "You mean to tell me that all this time I've been suffering the indignity of walking around with my knickers around my ankles, when all I've had to do is reach in through here? What else haven't you told me?"
Well, for one thing, I haven't yet admitted that I'm enough of a dork Anglophile to use "bloody," "knickers", and "Y-fronts" all in the same post.
